


Cigarettes & Coffee

by EvieSmallwood



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Snowstorms, fun times in the city of chicago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 08:59:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13050780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvieSmallwood/pseuds/EvieSmallwood
Summary: But it seemed so natural, darlingThat you and I are hereJust talking over cigarettes and drinking coffee, ooh nowor:El, the girl he found in the rain. Mike, the boy who gave her his jacket and took her home. They didn’t break up.





	Cigarettes & Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Part two of the Max & El series! I’m glad you guys enjoyed the first one. I had this one started like 5 minutes after I posted it, because I just couldn’t wait. 
> 
> The song ‘Cigarettes & Coffee’ is by Otis Redding. It’s a classic. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It’s snowing outside.

If this were Hawkins, Max would be overjoyed. She’d be gone outside in it, pummelling her friends with snowballs, or something.

But this is Chicago, and she’s not a kid anymore.

She’s also in the middle of a late night shift.

Max pours a second cup of hot chocolate for the woman at the counter. She looks maybe twenty-six, with bags under her eyes. Max thinks her name is Marlene, but she can’t be too sure.

She works at wiping the crumbs from the glass surface, which she’s done maybe a thousand times already. They keep appearing, like magic, even though there hasn’t been any food eaten up here for an hour or so.

Max glances at the clock while she flicks on the radio. Christmas carols stream through the speakers, soft and sweet. She feels warm, suddenly, thinking of that first Christmas they’d all spent together; huddled up in the cabin and nearly drowning in the presents they’d all bought one another (or made, in Will’s case).

She never thought she’d become so sentimental, but she’s smilies down at her old dirty rag anyway.

The bell chimes. Max doesn’t really spare a glance. She’s too caught up in cleaning for the night. After this, she can go home. She can curl up on the couch with their dog, and ask Lucas about his day.

“One hug, please.”

Max’s head snaps up. She’d know that voice anywhere.

“El!”

She’s unlatching the divider door and throwing herself into her friends arms before she can even blink. El smells like cookies and cold air and the floral perfume Max bought her for her birthday. She’s wearing a jacket that has to be Mike’s, because the sleeves are rolled up and the damn thing practically reaches her knees.

El pulls away after a minute. “Hey.”

There’s something about her voice that ceases any questions. Max doesn’t remark that they were supposed to see one another next week, in Hawkins, just like they have every year. She doesn’t do anything but lead El over to a booth, taking in her slightly puffy cheeks and reddened eyes.

“What happened?”

El falls apart in an instant; her head crashes into her hands and her whole body seems to fold. Max’s eyes widen. She slides into the seat next to El, wrapping her arm around her friend. “Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me what happened.”

El takes a moment to collect herself, wiping away her silent tears. “Are you sure? You’re not busy?”

Max almost laughs. “You’re kidding, right?”

The diner is practically empty. El seems to realise this just then. She sniffs. “Oh.”

“Hold on, I’ll get some coffee, okay?”

After a nod, Max rushes back to the counter. In the back, Arthur (who’s meant to be cleaning the grill) has fallen asleep in his chair. Marlene gets up, slapping a twenty on the counter. “Thanks, sister.”

Max gratefully grabs the money. She’s learned not to question these things, especially after living in such an expensive city for a year and a half.

She takes a fresh pot of coffee over to the little table and pours the steaming beverage into two mugs.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s hear it.”

“Mike and I got into a huge fight,” she says, now so settled into reality she sounds almost emotionless. “I think we broke up.”

Max blinks. “No, you didn’t,” she says, and she says it with so much certainty it startles them both a little. “I mean... there’s just no way. I’m sorry. You just _didn’t_.”

El, the girl he found in the rain. Mike, the boy who _gave her his jacket_ and _took her home_. They didn’t _break up._

The look on El’s face says otherwise, though. It’s a reflection of doubt and heartbreak. Max sighs and decides to humour her. “What did he say? What did you fight about?”

El is silent for a moment. She runs a finger over the rim of her mug while she formulates her thoughts. God, she looks beat up. Her curly hair is so frizzy it makes a halo around her head.

“He’s been stressed with finals,” she says after a minute. “I’ve been trying to give him space...”

Max gets that— _boy_ , does she get it. Lucas is like a tight string during finals; one tug and he snaps.

“And...?”

“I guess I was being a little too loud?” She sounds so uncertain, like even she doesn’t know what happened. “I was baking. I-I’ve been baking for two days straight. I’m trying to make a dozen cookies for everyone in the party, so that’s one-hundred and—

“El, sugar,” Max grabs her friend’s hand, “just get to the fight, okay?”

“Right, yeah,” El nods. “I was scooping cookie dough—God, this whole thing is _stupid_ —and he just started yelling. He went on and on about how much studying he had to do, and how annoying I was, and how he couldn’t stand to be in the house—” she sucks in a breath, eyes glistening, “and then he just grabbed his stuff and left.”

Max pales. “His stuff? Like, _all_ of his stuff?”

“No,” she rests her forehead against her hand, “his books, his jacket, whatever.”

Max relaxes. “Oh.” She lets it sink in. “Why do you think you broke up, again?”

El meets her eyes, all dark and full of hurt. “He said, ‘This isn’t gonna work anymore’.”

“Maybe he meant—”

“No, he did this—” she gestures between them. “Like, _us_.”

Max swallows. Her fingers twitch. She fumbles for the pack of cigarettes in her pocket and pulls one out, but El plucks that from between her lips and lights it herself (she has a _lighter?_ She smokes for real now?).

Max tries not to make it weird. She casually pulls out another and lights that one. Immediately, she feels better. Nicotine courses through her veins. Warm smoke fills her lungs.

“Jesus,” Max remarks after a minute, realising she hasn’t said anything yet.

El nods. “Yeah.”

“So you drove all the way from South Bend to here,” she says.

“It’s two hours,” El shrugs. “I didn’t wanna be there tonight, anyway.”

Max sips her coffee. “I think it’ll be fine,” she decides. “I mean, yeah, it sounds like he was being pretty shitty, but you have to keep in mind he’s stressed, and tired, and he probably hasn’t eaten if he’s anything like Lucas.”

El bites her lip. “I just never thought he’d say that stuff. I mean, we fight, but he’s never called me annoying. He’s never said I’m _unbearable_.”

Max winces, and then frowns into the black depths of her mug. “Mike is a loose canon on a good day, El. He’s stretched pretty thin, if you ask me.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You can stay with me, if you want,” Max volunteers. “I’m house sitting for my coworker, Lucy. She’s in New York for the week.”

It had been a task she’d gladly accepted; anything to give Lucas the space he needed. He seemed plenty content with her stopping by the campus with lattes for them both after a silent night alone.

El brightens. “That’d be nice.”

They finish their coffee, watching cars drive by through the piling up snow. After her shift officially ends, Max wakes up Arthur and tells him she’s leaving.

* * *

 It’s a ten minute walk back to the apartment, but there’s no way she’s trudging through the cold. Max hails a cab, ducks inside, and pulls El in with her.

Lucy’s apartment is small. They make it work, though; the bed is big enough for two, and there are plenty of spare blankets.

Halfway through _It’s A Wonderful Life_ , someone pounds on the door.

Max jumps. El’s head twitches and the movie is paused. They slip off of the bed, slowly advancing to the door.

It’s not really a bad neighbourhood, and Lucy’s neighbours seem nice enough, but who knows? A million horrible scenarios flash through Max’s mind; a crazy ex-boyfriend, or maybe the government found out about El and tracked her here, or maybe it’s Billy, here to finish her off at last—

It’s Lucas. He’s a little damp from the weather, but after not seeing him for a whole day Max is sure he’s never looked better.

Behind him is Mike, who looks sheepish until his eyes land on El. They widen. “El—”

“Not so fast, dude,” Max leans against the doorframe, folding her arms over her chest. “You don’t get to just waltz up here and work your lover boy magic—”

“Max,” he snaps. “Please let me in.”

“No way! You hurt her feelings—”

“Max,” El’s hand comes down on her shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Max glances between them before stepping aside with a sigh. Even if she wants it to work out, she still feels uneasy.

Regardless, El slips through, and Max jerks Lucas into the apartment. The door closes by itself (not really, but it looks that way).

Max stares up at her boyfriend. “So how is studying going?”

“Who cares?!”

Then his lips are on hers. Max lets herself be swept away by him, this dorky genius, who knows just when to open his mouth during a kiss and just where to place his hands. It’s the sort of familiarity that can only be had with someone who you’ve been kissing your whole life. She just knows, like him, what to do.

Lucas breaks away after a minute, looking a little breathless. “You know what this is about?”

She rolls her eyes. “You don’t?”

“No. He just showed up at our apartment looking like a lost puppy, asking if El was with you.”

“He’s so _dramatic_.”

“Yeah, well so are you.”

Max would be irritated, but it’s a little hard this time, given that she’s barely seen him for the past couple of weeks. She’s suddenly trying to memorise every detail on his face, and the way he looks in this light—

“We’re good.”

Max rounds. The front door is open and El is standing in front of Mike, who can’t take his eyes off of her. Their fingers are laced together.

Max raises an eyebrow. “That was quick.”

El’s hair is messed up. So is his. They’re so pathetically in love, they can’t even _fight_ properly. They’re totally missing out on that period of begrudging. It makes everything more intense.

“He apologised,” El explains, like it’s the most obvious thing.

“With his mouth, or his hands?”

“ _Max!_ ”

“I am so not here for this,” Lucas throws up his hands. “I have like, three more chapters to study tonight—”

“Hon, it’s one in the morning—”

“And your point is?”

 _You’ve got to be kidding me_ , is what she wants to say. Instead, she bites her lip. “Okay, you know what? You can keep studying, and Mike can study with you, because there’s no way I’m risking more relationship drama. El, you can stay here until they finish their exams on Friday.”

El beams. “Then we can drive to Hawkins together,” she finishes.

Lucas shrugs. “Guess it’s a plan,” he says, pressing a quick kiss to Max’s forehead. “C’mon, Mike.”

“Okay, well...” he gently lets go of El, but doesn’t take his eyes off of her. “I really am super sorry. And I love you, and you’re amazing, and—”

“ _Mike_ —”

“You’re so smart, and—”

“Mike, _now_.”

The door closes behind them. El turns to Max with flushed cheeks. “Christmas shopping tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, lover girl.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Mike is stressed. It’s relatable. 
> 
> Comment your thoughts, my dudes! 
> 
> Also, I have no idea what to call this series. If you have any ideas, please let me know :)


End file.
